


December 1st

by SkaianRedeemer



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-01
Updated: 2010-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-13 11:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/136931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkaianRedeemer/pseuds/SkaianRedeemer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Jade's birthday!  Well, technically.  It's been months since the game, but between Trolls and Horrorterrors haunting her sleep, she's not really sure what to make of it.  Yesterday was a mess, and the more she thinks about her birthday the more she remembers, and the closer she comes to realizing exactly what's really eating at her, and whether a birthday can really do anything about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	December 1st

**Author's Note:**

> For those who haven't read any of my fic on AO3 before, I tend to use italics whenever the Trolls use their characteristic quirks in speech, for lack of a full colour styling feature.

Jade kept her eyes shut, which she could not help feeling odd about since she knew her physical body was doing the exact same thing. It was how she liked to spend her time asleep some nights. Getting used to the Horrorterrors was a step-by-step process. After all these months, she could not really argue with Feferi about their ultimate good intentions, but it was so very hard to enjoy their company, what with the gnashing of teeth, the razor limbs, and the way that several of them spoke a dialect that translated "afternoon" literally to "the time of the hollowing of skulls." Some nights she just liked to pretend they weren't there at all. The night before had rapidly become one as it had gone on.

It had started when Aradia and Equius had hit it off with a kismeses' dream date. Even Jade had to be impressed by the spontaneity, as they had begun the passive-aggressive sniping from the moment they all met for breakfast. It mounted over the day, and had eventually progressed to (she still didn't believe it) Equius punching a projectile right back into Aradia's face. Nepeta had to be shaken from a shocked, glazed catatonia before she stepped in to do her job. Everyone else soon started to "catch" the stress. Dave clammed up, trying not to lose his cool until the shaking their explosions were causing dropped a ceiling tile on one of his favourite records. Alchemy aside, it was the principle of the thing, and soon everyone else had domino’d out of control.

And then the kissing started. With Nepeta diligently keeping weapons sheathed less through moirail-esque competence and more through the threat of an outburst of confused and overwhelmed tears, Equius and Aradia were soon lip-locked instead, and then that too intensified. That just made the uncomfortable silence that followed the shouting even more awkward by degrees. Soon, Karkat had decided to put a stop to the whole set of shenanigans, armed or unarmed, as he felt necessary, which was random if nothing else.

With Nepeta preoccupied, Jade had tried to slink off to find new company, but no luck. John was trying to get Karkat to draw the line a bit more leniently (" _EGBERT IF YOU STICK YOUR FOOT IN THIS ONE MORE TIME I WILL PERSONALLY SUFFER AND SHOW YOU WHERE THE KISMESIS LINE IS AT THIS AGE._ "). Dave was still in a funk, Gamzee passed out. Rose was barricaded in her room, still writing her novel from November 1 to November end, and despite numerous suggestions along the line, Jade had never really found time to really get to know Tavros even after all those months. She hid in her room instead, drawing and reading from the dead online archives of Earth, and she tried to block a niggling thought that formed in her mind as she looked at pictures of islands from world she once called home, a thought that began to eat at her as the clock went on.

Eventually the others fell quiet and a muffled feeling settled on Jade. It made her drowsy, and not wanting to go to sleep made her want to cry just out of plain frustration, but she wanted to feel more grown up than that. Especially today. In time she gave in, snuck out to the bathroom undisturbed and cleaned up for bed. But when she fell asleep she kept her eyes shut, because even grown ups never had to deal with monstrous hellsquids every night.

But as the night drew on, Jadefelt sillier and angrier at herself. What was she so upset about? Nothing had really happened to her the other day. Really, it was a sort of null day. She had had no plans disrupted, no possessions damaged, and didn’t begrudge Aradia and Equius their weird, sexually charged hatred. Really, she didn't, not even as much as Karkat did, and he was just trying to keep some sense of old Alternian order or morality intact. She was upset at them for what they were doing to Nepeta, but Rose and Kanaya had tried to warn both Nepeta and Jade about that at one point so Jade supposed she had seen it coming. In the end Jade could not think of anything more to do than to squeeze Nepeta on the shoulder and send her on her way. But even feeling bad for Nepeta was no excuse for her tantrum, and Jade knew it. She was feeling much less tired now, a good sign that it was almost time to wake up, but she decided to risk it. Jade sat up and opened her eyes, and with a yelp immediately fell back.

Four eyes (or was it six?) blinked out at her from the gloom of the Horror’s share of timeless space. Eight tentacle limbs spun out in all directions, grasping at unseen shapes and forms, and its spread from a central point in symmetry, spread in opposite directions. The god’s eyes looked at her at once, and though at first she found herself greatly perturbed by the expression on her face, she slowly came to see that he regarded her with surprising fondness.

_Open Godlog_   


> ???: Hello.  
>  JADE: …hello.  
> ???: Did I startle you from your game?  
> JADE: …my what?  
> ???: You seemed to be having a wonderful imaginary game. I am quite fond of imaginary games, I think they’re more productive than real ones.  
> JADE: You play imaginary games?  
> ???: Well, I used to.  
> JADE: I’m sorry, uh, Mr. Horrorterror, but… you look a bit more… human, than the others.  
> ???: Yes, I suppose you could say that. This universe just isn’t built for someone with a normal human physique, though, so you can see why I took a few liberties.  
> JADE: Oh… yes, of course!  
> ???: What were you imagining? It’s been so long since I imagined anything. The last time I did, I made that universe. Over there.  
> JADE: The one with the big rip in it?  
> ???: Do you see a tear? It’s all about perspective here in timeless space. From where I stand, it has been tightly bound back into place. From another, it is just as pristine as the day I made it.  
> JADE: …It must have been very pretty when you first made it.  
> ???: Yes, it’s my pride and joy. I do wish they’d stop wrecking it, but I suppose they have. It’s all about perspective here in timeless space. From where I stand, it has been tightly bound back into place.  
> ???: …What were you imagining?  
> JADE: I was just thinking about tomorrow.  
> ???: It can be helpful to plan ahead before you do something silly you might regret later. I once did something very silly involving musical instruments, but that's not important right now. Is it something you can do anything about?  
> JADE: Well, I guess I was thinking about tomorrow and the past.  
> ???: You can’t do anything about the past?  
> JADE: N-no. But I can see how you might not understand that.  
> ???: Oh, no, I understand. It’s just been such a long time, and you are here.  
> ???: But I suppose you are inside of that bubble.  
> JADE: Yeah.  
> ???: What's your tomorrow? The date.  
> JADE: It’s the first of December… we think. Sort of. Rose and Sollux figured out how the calendars match up a few months ago.  
> ???: ……I am fond of flowers.  
> JADE: Uh, no, Rose is a person. She’s my friend. Tomorrow’s the first of December and that means it’s my birthday.  
> ???: I do enjoy playing imaginary games on my birthday. But I haven’t had one in a very long time. I bet you’re older than me now.  
> JADE: I don’t know about that.  
> ???: Well certainly not older than me, but older than me.  
> JADE: I don’t think I follow!  
> ???: That’s all right. What were you imagining in your game about your birthday?  
> JADE: Nothing about my birthday, I suppose. Just that it is my birthday. Everyone’s so mad at everyone and I… don’t know.  
> JADE: Most of my birthdays have been great, but they haven’t all been happy. One time, my grandpa… but I guess that was a good birthday. Just not… after.  
> JADE: I’m just worried this isn’t going to be a good birthday at all because everyone is so mad. I didn’t expect the Trolls to get it in the first place but my friends…  
> JADE: And this is different. This is going to be my first birthday without… without my grandpa. And without Bec. And I don’t… know… if I can—  
> ???: You’ll be all right. Goodbye, Jade.  
> JADE: Wait, what?  
> ???: Goodbye, Jade.  
> JADE: But why goodbye? And how do you know my na—

Jade fell off her bed in a mummy-wrap of blankets, buffeting her impact with the floor along with the ever durable frame of Nepeta. Jade looked down at the Troll wrapped up in the same sheets and pinned underneath her with blurry, glasses-free confusion as Nepeta grinned up at her with glistening predator teeth.

“JADE!” Nepeta shouted, far too loud for first thing in the morning, and thumping her on the shoulders with both hands. “You’re up!”

“Nepeta…” Jade mumbled. “Why are you… under me?”

“Uh…” Nepeta looked around and seemed to notice for the first time exactly how she had landed. With her prime reflexes, she kicked the bundle of sheets over until Jade was properly pinned underneath the huntress, a far more agreeable (and as Jade had learned over a thousand pouncegreets over the past few months, familiar) arrangement. This explained precisely nothing.

“Get up!” Nepeta said, shouting once again. “Gamzee…” she tried to stand and was forced to kick and pull until she had freed herself properly from the blankets. “Gamzee made a… a…” She gave her leg a tug, which did not quite free her foot from the last tangle of sheets, and bounded off toward the door. She fell flat on her face as consequence, before another kick freed her at last. “Come see!” she shouted as she darted away, more into the hall than to Jade.

Jade groaned and carefully pulled her stuff together for the morning, worried with every drawn-out second that Nepeta would return when she was half-dressed and completely unprepared, but if that was Nepeta's plan, Jade beat the clock. Stepping out of her room, she emerged to a burst of colour and a gaggle of sound.

“I’m simply trying to understand the significance of desserts versus a full meal. Naturally I would not be opposed to consuming them for a change in pace, _e%cept with a slight rel00ctance regarding sugar and Nepeta—_ ”

“ _—eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee hahahahahahahahahahahaha!_ ”

“…It’s simply that I associate the celebration with savoury flavours.”

“Strongbro, I don’t know what the hell you’re saying, but if you don’t get your kitty off of my cake I’m going to get _FuCkInG MeDiEvAl iN ThIs bAkErY._ ”

Nepeta stepped down, her legs covered in a mix of gray, red and white icing. “…I’m sorry Gamzee.”

“ _Nepeta,_ ” Equius said. “ _That is your piece._ ”

“’Kay.”

Equius looked up and saw Jade walking into the room, eyes wide with astonishment. “Good morning, Miss Harley,” he greeted. Jade could not help noticing the ripe shiner over his left eye, or the uncharacteristic smile plastered all over his face.

“Equius, is this…?”

“Yes,” he said. “We’ve set about preparing several days of festivities for you and your friends.”

Festivities was the operative word. Terezi had been decorating, that was certain, as the walls were garish and bright. Tavros was preparing punch, and as though it were there simply to identify the goings on as a party, he had brought his horse. Kanaya had set up arranging, rearranging and rearranging again a modest stack of gifts that had been placed in one corner. Everyone was up and about, though many of them still in their pyjamas. To be honest, it had more of a Christmas morning vibe to it in Jade’s mind than birthdays, and while she suspected the Trolls might have gotten their holiday wires crossed, she really had no idea what to say.

“But why did no one tell me?” she asked at last.

“Duh, so yours could be a surprise!” said a voice behind her head. Jade turned and was immediately hit by a spray of vibrant confetti blown out of John’s hand. As she sputtered and laughed, Equius concurred with a soft brush on her shoulder that felt as though he was pressing her flat to the ground. She held up straight through the grace of Sburb-granted Vim if nothing else.

“We tried to keep our early preparations quiet so that you could have a restful night,” he explained. “I hope your night was as peaceful as mine was… exhilarating. Karkat’s regulations aside.”

John made a face at that comment, and Jade had to turn her head to see the dreamy look on Equius’ face that was mirrored with a sort of content placidity on Aradia’s. Looking past Equius to find her, Jade could not help but laugh with glee at her second sight of the growing party. She brushed a lock of hair out of her face, pulling confetti out of it as she went, and squealed: “I can’t believe you all did this!”

“Well you didn’t think we forgot, did you?” Dave asked. Jade found him beside the most remarkable cake she had seen in person her entire life, which he was helping to decorate. The bottom layer, despite certain cat-shaped knee prints on one end, was decorated with his record symbol, while the second, held up by fragile-looking plastic struts, was a magical-looking stars against the night sky pattern he was just finishing up. Gamzee worked diligently at the top layer between her and it, making it impossible for her to work out what it was that required so much attention.

“Well, no,” Jade said, and leaned in towards her friend. “I just thought it would be the four of us.”

Dave shrugged. “You wanna slip away later, poof. Your birthday.”

“JADE!” shrieked Nepeta, glomping her from behind. Icing stuck and clung them together as Nepeta lifted her straight off her feet and spun her around. “There’s. So. Much. STUFF!” She immediately broke away and bounded off down the hall once again en route to the bathrooms. Jade saw that between her bedroom and now, Nepeta had outfitted herself with a party hat and a noisemaker and made an awful ruckus on her way to the can.

“That is some fucking enthusiasm!” Gamzee said, jumping off the stool he was using as a platform. “Easier to appreciate when she's not using my cake as a stool. Morning, you,” he said, smiling broadly. In his hand, he held a pie pan topped with a range of colourful fruit, whipped cream and…

“Oh my god,” she gasped, hands at her mouth, nearly breathless. “…You made me pumpkin pie.”

“Yup.”

“…h-how? Where did you—”

Gamzee shook his head as though trying to knock away the haze. “I have absolutely no goddammed clue.”

“He’s been looking for that recipe for months,” said another voice at her back. Jade squealed unintentionally.

“Rose!” she said, and hugged her. “You’re alive!”

“Alive, and seven thousand words short,” Rose said, with a frown, which Jade returned. “ _C’est la vie_. Sorry I’ve been locked up so long, but someone had to keep old traditions alive.” She gave the smallest grin, raising an icing-covered finger from Jade’s leg and putting it in her mouth. “You sound like you’re enjoying the festivities.”

Jade was bouncing. She could not stop bouncing. “Oh my god, Rose, this is too much! if I’m allowed to plan something for you and Dave I promise I will make it so fun for you guys.”

Rose shrugged with one hand. “Then you had better talk to Karkat. This has been mostly his idea.”

“…What I said,” Karkat said from off to one side. Jade turned to see him, and Feferi and Vriska had to part to let him through. He immediately removed the party had they had strapped to him as he stepped forward. “…was ‘So what do you monkeys do on your wriggling days? Oh? That’s interesting. Maybe we should do that too.’”

“Yeah,” said Feferi, “and you’ve been pulling every single string since, _)(aven’t you, Karkat?_ ”

Karkat frowned, and it seemed to only deepen when he noticed Jade’s legs slaked with icing. “I’m allowed to be in charge of how things go on around here, aren’t I?”

But Jade could just not stop smiling, nor bouncing on her feet, nor the errant, nervous twiddling of her fingers. “Thank you, Karkat,” she said, and she leaned forward and up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

“Yes… well…” And he rounded on the others: “Look, why don’t all of you stop stuffing yourselves on fucking chips and candy and go eat some damn breakfast, eh? You got three days to eat that crap!”

As the Trolls hustled out, Jade suddenly found herself wedged in between Feferi and Vriska.

“Well that was interesting,” Vriska whispered as they walked.

“What?” Jade said, pretending she had no idea. “That was just a thank you.”

“Well that’s _GR--EAT!_ ” Feferi said, pressing up against her from the other side. “Because maybe then you can help us understand this birthday game we found on the internet.”

Jade felt the blood start to rush to her face. “Please tell me you’re not talking about—”

“Spin the bottle?” Vriska said more as a statement than a question.

“Vriska!” Jade hissed. “Don’t you dare cheat!”

Vriska grinned, inches away from Jade’s own face. “ _8ut does that mean we can plaaaaaaaay?_ ”

Before the day was over, Jade had eaten too many chips, and the best pie she had ever tasted. She had received a set of seven handmade gifts and eight alchemized but practical. And in the afternoon, she had kissed Tavros, Terezi and Dave. The last of those was the biggest teasing point as the four Humans all squirreled away in John’s room later that night with twelve bottles of Faygo and a bowl of corn chips that only the guys seemed to have the stomach to handle any more. But no one was more teased than John, what with him being the recipient of Nepeta’s over-enthused, over-extended tackle kiss. They talked about Rose’s book. They talked about home. They talked about Earth too, their old home, as the night pressed on.

Way past what equated to three in the morning, Dave, above the others seated on the floor from his lying position on the bed, toasted Jade with his empty bottle of Faygo. “Happy fourteenth, Jade.” The others joined in.

“Thank you,” she said back. “…Gonna be a big year.”

“Yup,” Dave said, taking an unconscious swig from the empty bottle. “You can start by resting your birthday off because I’m going to burn the whole place down the day after tomorrow.”

Rose nodded. “I’ve told Karkat to leave mine sedate for exactly that reason.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” John said, eye drooping, “but I’m already all partied out. Could you, uh… get out of my room?”

“No way, Egbert,” Dave said from the bed. “I’m taking over.”

They began to fight over the bed, and Jade and Rose slipped away on their own, Rose bidding Jade goodnight at her door. Jade was exhausted, overwhelmed, and still even a little giddy. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

_Open Godlog_   


> ???: Hello.  
>  JADE: Oh, hello! I didn’t know you could get the same God two nights in a row.  
> ???: It’s not usual, but possible. You won’t see me again.  
> JADE: That’s too bad.  
> ???: You feel better this evening.  
> JADE: I do! My friends and I had a great time for my birthday.  
> ???: I told you it would be all right.  
> JADE: You did! Did you… did you help with that?  
> ???: No. I don’t have power even in my own universe. I can only really do one thing even there.  
> JADE: That’s too bad.  
> ???: But I can do things with these bubbles.  
> JADE: Did you… did you have something in mind?  
> ???: Well, it was your birthday.

There was nothing at all strange about waking up in the morning to the smell of bacon cooking for breakfast, her grandfather hunched over the stove as he rambled incoherently to one of his “houseguests” about proper culinary technique and crispness. He removed most of the strips from the heat just as she stepped into the room, cranked up the dial to irradiate and then tossed the last to Bec, and there was nothing strange about that either. She wondered why she felt so sad when everything was normal, and took a seat at the table as eggs and toast were dolled out to her as he finished his story. He hadn’t gotten her anything, but he gave her a birthday hug and she felt gifted. He hadn’t prepared any celebrations, but Bec eyed her with a lolling tongue and excited yaps as she re-cooked some of her bacon (Grandpa always gave her extra) so that she could toss him some, and she felt thrilled. When she went to bed, she felt happy again.

And when she woke up, tears in her eyes, she felt closure, and she no longer feared the Horrors.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set months after the main story and any other fic I've ever written! For all I know it's set in some sort of new universe created at the end of the story. Or something. As far as the kids and trolls are concerned, my theories cut out after they meet up (maybe that's why I like setting fic then so much), so I really can't even say.
> 
> In the forum version, the, ahem, Horrorterror's text is the colour of PURE IMAGINATION. Or possibly candy corn liquor. Wait, what's the difference?


End file.
